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Skoda trio voted 'best in Britain'

BRITISH drivers are happier with their cars than ever before, especially if they own a Skoda. According to new figures collected by Auto Express magazine's annual Driver Power survey, the average satisfaction rating for a car in the top 100 was a huge 88.36%, which equates to a 7% rise since the survey’s launch in 2002. Steve Fowler, editor-in-chief of Auto Express, said: “The UK car market is booming at the moment with over two years of consecutive growth and new car registrations up 3%, and it is no surprise given the Driver Power results.

BMW 1-series M Coupe (2011) teaser video

BMW is continuing to build up the hype ahead of the launch of its next M car – this is a teaser video giving us our first glimpse of the undisguised BMW 1-series M Coupe What’s new is our first look at this hot 1-series’ butch bodykit, complete with an engorged front bumper and triple air intakes. There are CSL-alike 19-inch wheels too, and sitting between the cross-drilled front discs is a twin-turbo 3.0-litre straight-six, producing 335bhp and 369lb ft. Drive, thankfully, goes to just the rear wheels, and they’ll be a choice of either a six-speed manual or seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox. There’ll be an M diff too, but we hear it might be on the options list as BMW’s money men fight to keep the list price under £40k.   

Revealed: the popular city cars that FAIL a new crash test

It’s fair to say that drivers are pretty well protected in just about any new car on the market today. It’s rare for cars to get anything below the maximum five stars in the Euro NCAP crash tests, and even the most basic of cars come with equipment like ABS and airbags as standard. But America’s Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has devised a new test, which involves a “small overlap front crash” – similar to a head-on crash but only the front corner of a car collides with a solid object.